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"Bianca Tanis explains in the AFT publication why high-stakes testing is wrong for children with special needs. She describes a system under political pressure to produce data, where data trumps instruction and the needs of children."

"Earlier this year at a roundtable discussion in Colorado, Mitt Romney was talking about education-extolling the virtues of private schools and vouchers, and criticizing public schools and teachers unions. When a teacher participating in the discussion tried to offer her perspective, Romney shot back: "I didn't ask you a question." But teachers, like many other Americans, have questions about Romney's policies and proposals. They worry about their impact on the education that kids receive, because he advocates slashing education funding and privatizing public education. They question his taking credit for educational success in Massachusetts that was spurred by reforms instituted a decade before he became governor, and wonder why as a presidential candidate he is proposing entirely different, discredited education policies. They are incredulous that he says he would preserve the U.S. Department of Education only so he'd have a club to go after teachers unions, when most teachers in Massachusetts and other high-performing states are unionized. They doubt his pledges to middle-income voters because, according to numerous independent analyses, the math doesn't add up for his tax and job creation proposals. This presidential election presents a choice between starkly different visions for the future of our country."

Since some people think that everything in education can be reduced to a number, let's follow their lead

Question: Why do wealthy kids usually do better in school than poor kids? Answer: Disadvantaged children face a host of challenges to academic success. These challenges fall into two broad categories.

"The charter school movement is now at a crossroads. More than 2 million students will be enrolled in charter schools in the fall - a big number for a movement that's barely 20 years old. The publicly funded, privately run schools have spread so fast, they operate more like a parallel school system in some places. The intention was to create labs for education experimentation. But the quality of charters and their record of success are mixed. Sometimes, the results aren't much different from their public counterparts. Original arguments against the business model have never dissipated, and now there are questions about whether charters are serving their initial purpose."

In education, teacher evaluations are supposed to gauge what is and isn't working in teachers' practice, and provide feedback to ensure teachers are at the top of their game. Even though administrators have always had this responsibility, teacher evaluations have rarely met that standard. They often are little more than quick snapshots, taken by a principal sitting in the back of the classroom with a checklist once a year. Yet these snapshots-"drive-by evaluations" as they are known-frequently serve as the basis for decisions to keep or dismiss teachers. More recently, so-called reformers have pushed to replace that inadequate snapshot with another kind-once-a-year standardized student test scores in math or English-even though such tests are not designed to evaluate teachers and the majority of educators teach subjects not currently assessed by standardized tests.  Neither of these limited approaches makes any sense-for neither one does anything to improve teacher practice or increase student learning. And after all, isn't that the point?

Despite ample evidence, we still fail to heed the lessons of what works in the world's top-performing school systems-an investment in teachers; a rich and robust curriculum; and wraparound services such as counseling, after-school programs and tutoring to counter factors outside the classroom, like poverty, that affect student performance.

A cooperative effort of the New York City Department of Education, the Chancellor's office, and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) resulted in a specially designed educational program under which all elementary and middle schools in the Chancellor's District would operate. The program included five components: a research-based curriculum focused heavily on literacy and mathematics; a staffing model designed to ensure a qualified teacher in every classroom; a strong principal for every school; high quality professional development for teachers and administrators; and smaller classes with added dollars for materials and supplies.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is calling today for a new brand of unionism that focuses not only on helping members but also the communities in which they work and live. The union's annual convention starts today in Detroit, where more than than 3,000 delegates have gathered at a time when teachers and their unions have come under attack from school reformers. Though teachers have been unhappy with many of President Obama's education initiatives, Weingarten's speech urges members to support him in the November election because he shares many of the same values as union members. As for GOP candidate Mitt Romney, she says, "His idea of education reform is vouchers, which study after study has shown do not improve achievement." The two candidates, she said, "couldn't be more different." The convention will also be addressed by Vice President Biden, education historian Diane Ravitch and others. Here is Weingarten's convention speech as prepared for delivery:

"Can a teachers' union successfully be both a hardball-playing defender of its rights and a collaborative force for the common good? It is both a question of philosophy and, increasingly, one of policy direction for the American Federation of Teachers, whose biennial convention here showed delegates grappling with the tension between the two approaches to unionism."

"Yesterday, a variety of edu-Tweeps engaged in a lengthy debate over due process in instances when a teacher is investigated for inappropriate sexual misconduct with students. At issue is a New York legislative proposal that would give administrators the final word in firing teachers in such instances. (The current process depends heavily on arbitrators jointly selected by the teachers' union and the district.) Of course, as this was a Twitter debate, it's only right that we should share some of that thread as it unfolded. So here I present a Storify of the debate, which was primarily between American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and former CNN personality Campbell Brown."

"In this post on reclaiming the conversation on education I offer strong views on the need to reorganize and redirect the American Federation of Teachers and the National Educational Association if these unions are to survive as a meaningful force for and ally of public education. I believe teachers and their unions have the potential to be agents for progressive educational and social change, but I am not sure that they will. It means taking risks that the organizations so far do not appear willing to make."

"How Due Process Protects Teachers and Students"

"For all the efforts to improve education that are made in classrooms, school board meetings, research institutions, congressional chambers and elsewhere, one factor has in many ways eclipsed them all: an intense focus on standardized testing. High-stakes tests-flaws and all-seem to be driving everything from what subjects are taught, to how they are taught, to whether schools are closed, to how teachers are evaluated and compensated. Schools have even experimented with paying kids for higher test scores. Sadly, the pressure to measure has even diverted schools from implementing strategies known to improve student outcomes. "

The American Federation of Teachers has landed in a bit of hot water over a presentation, given by a regional affiliate lobbyist at its recent TEACH professional-development conference, that details how the Connecticut chapter "diffused" a "parent trigger" legislative proposal in that state.

At the meetings of the National Conference of State Legislatures in San Antonio this week, lawmakers from around the country heard a learned presentation from  education-finance professor James Guthrie of the Bush Institute at Southern Methodist University, purporting to show how the state is not getting its money's worth from  Texas public schools. Defining productivity in terms of the ratio of dollars invested to points scored by Texas students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Guthrie painted a dismal picture of public financial folly-a pattern of  growing investments for little gain that no private business would tolerate. Guthrie dismissed as inefficient state policies and attendant expenditures to reduce class size, provide certified teachers, and retain experienced teachers.

America was founded, and has flourished, as a land of opportunity-a place where, by working hard and seizing opportunities, each generation can do better than the last. But this very American notion seems frayed, as the effects of economic recession have taken a terrible toll on our kids and the schools they depend upon.

"Let's refuse to be defined by people who are happy to lecture us about the state of public education - but wouldn't last 10 minutes in a classroom"

While our quality agenda has some very specific proposals, everything we have proposed is guided by four fundamental principles: Evidence-because evidence about what works, and not ideology about what should work, must always be our guide; Equity-because all children deserve a great education; Scalability-because we are not satisfied to provide that great education to only some children in only some schools; we must provide a quality educational opportunity to every child in every school; and Sustainability-because school improvement needs to withstand budget cycles and political shifts, and must outlast changes in school, district and union leadership.

Real education reform takes a significant step forward today as the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of School Administrators launch a groundbreaking partnership based on their commitment to ensure a skilled teacher workforce for the knowledge-based economy.